Demands for higher data rates for mobile services are steadily increasing. At the same time modern mobile communication systems as 3rd Generation Systems (3G) and 4th Generation Systems (4G) provide enhanced technologies which enable higher spectral efficiencies and allow for higher data rates and cell capacities. Wireless broadband has thus become reality in recent years. Online multimedia, gaming, mobile application downloading, etc., become dominating traffic of the mobile network.
As operators are seeking to extend the coverage of their networks, relaying concepts become more and more sophisticated. In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as international standardization body, relay architectures for Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA, wherein UMTS abbreviates Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) have been discussed and results collected in Technical Recommendation 36.416.
In relaying architectures a relay station transceiver may extend the coverage of a base station transceiver. Basic concepts use a relay station transceiver, which receives signals from a base station transceiver and forwards them to mobile transceivers or user equipment, and vice versa, in an amplify-and-forward fashion. The radio signals from the base station transceiver are received, amplified and transmitted to the mobile transceiver, from the relay station transceiver respectively. In such a scenario the relay station may not even be identified as such by a mobile transceiver. In other concepts, the relay station transceiver may correspond to a base station transceiver, which is connected to another base station transceiver, the so-called donor base station transceiver, via a radio interface and provides radio services as a base station to the mobile transceiver station or user equipment.
In so-called group mobility scenarios, that is in scenarios where multiple mobile transceivers or user equipment move jointly through the communications network, mobile relay stations moving together with the user equipment may be utilized in order to provide a reliable and stable service to the user equipment. This is particularly the case when multiple users move together quickly, as for example, in a high-speed train, such as the China Railways High-Speed (CRH) train between Beijing and Shanghai at speeds of up to 350 km/h. Employing mobile relay station transceivers inside the train may provide for stable operations and multiple services of good quality to the users.